[AAACE-NLA] Contest for a Career Pathways Graphic

[Susan Finn Miller]

One idea I heard that seemed to have promise, was the metaphor of a train or subway map. This kind of pathway allows one to go in different directions and reverse course and begin again in a different direction or return to a main hub and contine the journey on a different pathway. One can stay in one spot for awhile, too, if necessary.

Susan Finn Miller
Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13
Instructional Services
1020 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17601
Cell: 717-799-2788

Service, Support…Solutions
________________________________
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Susan Finn Miller [susanfinn_miller at IU13.org]
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 8:32 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Contest for a Career Pathways Graphic

We have been yearning for just such a tool for years.  Kudos to David for inspiring those among us who have the talent to create something that communicates universally!

Susan Finn Miller
Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13
Instructional Services
1020 New Holland Avenue
Lancaster, PA 17601
Cell: 717-799-2788

Service, Support…Solutions
________________________________
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Hal Beder [hbeder at rci.rutgers.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 7:50 AM
To: 'National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE'
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Contest for a Career Pathways Graphic

I think this is a terrific project and there might be a second payoff. How learners set goals for their trips along pathways is very important and we know little about that. The graphics could be great data that could contribute to our understanding of how learners perceive the trip.

From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org [mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 4:44 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Cc: The Workforce Competitiveness Discussion List
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Contest for a Career Pathways Graphic

AAACE-NLA and Workforce Competitiveness Discussion List Colleagues,

This discussion about Career Pathways Graphics is now taking place on two discussion lists so I will post my replies to both lists. Below is a reply to Hal Beder.

Thanks Hal.

There are some good graphics in the Shifting Gears report; they are relatively clear, simple and straightforward, especially compared to others I have seen. However, I am looking for something that has some of this kind of information but is also built on a visual metaphor that adult learners will find appealing and immediately intuitive. Charts like the Wisconsin Career Pathways one on page 16, with boxes and arrows, may make sense to practitioners, and to some adult learners, but many learners find them off-putting. Also, this chart does not explicitly include options like community-based job skills training, and although apprenticeships are listed they are in an unconnected box at the bottom. These two important options for adult learners are not treated as important career options. (Maybe they aren't in Wisconsin?)

The Illinois Bridges to Post-Secondary Education and Employment graphic on page 20 implicitly uses the (linear) ladder or staircase visual metaphor. This is often not the way adult learners' lives work. It's why increasingly practitioners use a "career pathways"  or "career lattice" metaphor that suggesst a variety of paths. Another problem is that this graphic, like nearly all that I have seen, is written for a practitioner audience, does not emphasize a learner perspective. The Wisconsin Technical College System: RISE Career Pathway Bridges graphic on page 23 is illustrative of three careers: welding, baking and nursing, has useful information that is presented simply, but is too sector-specific, and also not based on an engaging visual metaphor.

My comments are not to suggest that these are not good graphics for the Shifting Gears report, but that for the purpose I have in mind, engaging adult learners who don't understand the career landscape/pathways/roadmap/steppingstones/crossings at all, and who are in many cases intimidated by these options, we need something more engaging, that speaks to them, that helps them see themselves actually taking these steps.

To put the use of the graphic in context, one idea that has been suggested about how to use this graphic would be to make large classroom posters from the image, a poster that would engage students and also be useful as part of a teaching/counseling process to introduce them to career pathways. Another idea I have heard is to make a wall-size poster and have each student in a class take a piece of colored yarn and link it (using tape or tacks) from "step to step" to show their own path. These yarn paths could then become a tool for discussion of career choices and pathways.

Incidentally, an anonymous donor has added $50.00 to the award prize money, so that means that the first prize may go higher than $50 or that there may be more second place prizes!

David J. Rosen
DJRosen at theworld.com<mailto:DJRosen at theworld.com>




On Nov 8, 2010, at 1:52 PM, Hal Beder wrote:


Look at the Shifting Gears Report by Julie Strawn.  It is a great report and
there is a good graphic there.
http://www.clasp.org/resources_and_publications/publication?id=0784&list=pub
lications

-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 5:55 AM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE;
technology at lincs.ed.gov
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Contest for a Career Pathways Graphic

Colleagues,

I have been trying to find a friendly graphic image that shows
visually -- for adult learners in ABE/ESOL/GED/ADP or transition
programs -- the idea of career pathways or career roadmaps. I am
looking for a graphic that includes beginning signposts or stepping
stones like learning English or getting a GED diploma, as well as
more advanced ones such as enrolling in college. Metaphors that have
been suggested include "roadmaps" and "pathways." I have also seen a
photograph of a shallow river with stepping stones in it explained
this way: education and employment opportunities on the far side and
learners on the near side. The idea is that there is no simple bridge,
no single right path to get across the river, that some steps across
might
be lateral, or that sometimes learners have to "take a step backwards"
before they can move forward. I have not yet seen a graphic that
captures this well.

Recently I received a career roadmap digital image made by an adult
learner in a GED program in Boston. It stimulated me to think that
we may have some good graphic designers in our adult education
community, among learners as well as practitioners, so I am holding
a North American contest -- and I will provide a $50 reward to the
winner -- for the best graphic that communicates this image. If I
like more than one, I may also award $25 each to the runner(s) up. I
will pay for the rewards myself, and I will figure out a process for
selecting the winner(s). Maybe I'll just decide by myself, or I might try to
involve learners and practitioners. We'll see. It depends, in part, on
how many submissions I get.

The graphic must be submitted to djrosen at comcast.net<mailto:djrosen at comcast.net>  by
December 1st, 2010. It must be a jpeg/jpg digital image. For details
on what  I am looking for, go to the ALE Wiki page on this at
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Career_Pathways

Please share this information with learners and practitioners whom
you think might be interested.

Thanks.

David J. Rosen
djrosen at theworld.com

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